What: Standard tower defense game with a strong 3D printing theme for play on PC
When: January 2020 - June 2020
Where: Independently published on itch.io
Who: Me – Unity3D, programming, design, UI, sound
Why: Passion for the project and a desire to see a full game through to completion by myself
How: Unity 2019, Source control via Git. 3D modeling and texturing in Fusion 360, Blender, and Substance Painter, Sound design via Audacity
Save the Prints! is a passion project of mine that combines two of my favorite hobbies; game development and 3D printing. An independently produced and developed tower defense game with a fun thematic twist. Save the Prints! can be downloaded here for free.
Implementation Highlights
Faithful adaptation of a real-world 3D printer’s user interface
Extended the built in Unity UI event system to allow for custom control over them using the 3D printer’s knob just like you can in real life
LCD UI font, layout, colors, and sound effects created to match their real world counterparts
Altered default Unity UI selection and transition effects to match their real world counterparts
Worked with Unity UI tools to ensure variety of UI control methods (keyboard, direct mouse clicks, and simulated printer knob rotations and clicks)
Player performance feedback and defense upgrade system
Built level ‘star’ system to reward players with spendable upgrade points for success
Implemented store purchasing system that tracks upgrade points and offers player option to purchase defense upgrades
Upgrade path is not fixed and players can choose to upgrade whatever defense type they prefer
Level system and progression path
Built level design template tool for building new levels using Breadth First Search and inspector gizmos
Unlocking future levels is handled through completion of a previous level
Old levels can be replayed to gain additional upgrade points to help with completing more difficult later levels
Three thematic defenses with unique properties were created (damage enemies, slow enemies down, etc.)
Challenges
Balance and Expandability
I would like to revisit the level creation tools to automate them for easier level design
Testing dozens of levels is quite time consuming and I would like to mathematically solve for level difficulty and order levels accordingly
Performance is sub-optimal due to high complexity source geometries and the need of some code refactoring. I would like to break the game apart into multiple scenes for future expansion as well
Open Source Project
Many of the 3D print models in the game are sourced from the incredible 3D printing community. A list of these models and where to download them, along with the Unity project and source code for Save the Prints is available for free on GitHub here (https://github.com/nuehado/SaveThePrints).
If you have any bugs to report, have feature/3D models that you'd like to see added to the game, or would otherwise like to get involved with this game's continued development, consider joining us on Discord using this link https://discord.com/invite/7ZWD2Yx .Your input is greatly appreciated!
Special Thanks
Great appreciation towards Prusa3D and Creative Tools for granting me permission to use the likenesses of the MK3s printer and 3DBenchy model in this game. Please check them out here!